Month: July 2019

“A child is not a dog. No matter whose child. It requires more to lawfully take a child than it does a dog. Even in Herkimer.” Look no further than Herkimer, New York, USA, to see the illegal taking of a child from his family. On 4/24/19, Herkimer County sheriff’s deputies entered our home and took our two-year-old grandson Avram from his mother. They didn’t have a warrant. They didn’t have a valid court order. They said they had “verbal permission.”

Even In Herkimer A Child Is Not A Dog

It requires more to lawfully take a child than it does a dog. Even in Herkimer. No matter how inconvenient. No matter whose child. New York’s Domestic Relations Law governs the return of a child to a parent in another state. It incorporates the provisions of the federal Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). The law requires registration of an out-of-state custody order with the local family court, due notice and a hearing. Then the custody order can be legally enforced. It only takes a few days. Apparently too cumbersome for scofflaw Herkimer.

Herkimer Family Court Collusion?

The deputies said they had “verbal authorization” [Video, below: 1:56] from Judge John Brennan of the Herkimer Family Court to take our grandson. If so, Brennan played fast and loose with the law. New York’s family courts are notoriously packed and dysfunctional. Scooping up a kid without a warrant for an out-of-state return and whisking him to the waiting parent avoids further clogging the court calendar with the tedium of due process. Especially when outcome appears predetermined. In an extrajudicial kidnapping like this, speed is of the essence: Not much a parent can do when the kid’s back in the other state. It seems a cynical practice encourage by long success. Had our daughter been known to have an attorney, and lived at a better Herkimer address, the law might have been followed.

HERKIMER KIDNAPPING – VIDEO

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A Herkimer Kidnapping

Video Timeline001-1:05 Herkimer County Sheriff’s deputies, accompanied by Herkimer police officer, arrive at our house. (Police here to protect deputies from us.) 1:06-1:14 I foolishly let them in without examining their order. I’d assumed they were acting lawfully. Never assume this in Herkimer County. 1:15-1:15 One deputy identifies himself as Sgt. George. The other merely says “Herkimer County Sheriff.” (He’s not the sheriff.) 1:20 – 1:55 Sgt. George reads the order to our daughter. It’s quickly apparent it’s a Michigan court order. George states it authorizes them to take our grandson for return to his father in Michigan. It doesn’t. I object, citing New York law and the procedure necessary to lawfully execute an out-of-state custody order in New York. Sgt. George says they have verbal permission from Herkimer County Family Court to enforce the Michigan court order. I continue to dispute their authority.2:41 – 2:54 Deputy(?) Nameless tells me to “go argue the order” with Herkimer County Family Court Judge John Brennan if I don’t like it. I point out that I can’t, it’s a Michigan court order. Judge Brennan is a New York judge. He has not issued an order in this matter. Nameless Deputy repeats that they have verbal authority from Judge Brennan to take our grandchild. Seems hostile.3:14 – 3:20 “Where is the child?” is the demand.3:21 – 3:45 Little Avram taken. Nameless sheriff’s officer waves to unidentified woman in unmarked car down the street to approach closer. She hesitatingly does so. May know we’d recently reported Herkimer CPS workers Sara Riente and Lisa Bates to NY authorities for malfeasance.3:46 – 4:36 Avram passed to unidentified woman wearing unviewable badge driving unmarked car. 4:37 – 4:56 Grandma gives kindly Herkimer Police Officer Holt clothes and shoes for shoeless Avram, who takes them to the sheriff’s officers.End: Unknown woman in unmarked car makes good her escape with our grandchild.

“Our grandson now lives in an upscale townhouse in an upscale college town with his Rhodes Scholar professor-“father”. We fear for his safety.”

A Herkimer Kidnapping Finale

Gloating email later that evening from Mukherji to our daughter saying he was at a Herkimer motel and that Avram had been returned to him. He’s refused all attempts at contact by our daughter. Our grandson now lives in an upscale townhouse in an upscale college town with his Rhodes Scholar professor father. We fear for his safety. Why? Read on.

A Herkimer Kidnapping – Backstory

In late January, our daughter escaped with our grandson from her abusive and neglectful husband, Somangshu Mukherji, an Indian national. He’d allowed her no contact with us for years and kept her in almost complete social and physical isolation. Mukherji’s a nontenured assistant professor of Music at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He’s not the child’s birth father. Our daughter believes he signed Avram’s birth certificate to enhance his status with US Immigration. The trigger for our daughter’s flight to Herkimer was Somangshu’s announcing they were going on a trip with him to Turkey, along with his equally abusive mother. The US State Department advises against travel to Turkey: “terrorism, kidnappings and arbitrary detentions.” Anything could happen, especially to a toddler. Sounded like it might be a one-way trip for the “son” our daughter says Somangshu calls “the little bastard.” Somangshu’s vigilance slipped for a moment and our daughter and grandchild bolted for here. Always kept penniless, she took a cab across several states, paying with the Uber account Somangshu kept on her phone for his convenience.

Somangshu Mukherji – No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Somangshu Mukherji sneering at me as he trespasses on our porch.

Somganshu’s Green Card and his good job were made possible by his marriage to our severely bipolar American-born daughter. In 2003, we sponsored him after Harvard dropped their sponsorship of him as grad student, alleging “academic dishonesty.” We posted a $40k bond for him with the Sate Department, 17% of our total assets. He’s repaid us by abusing our daughter, misusing his medical guardianship of her and denying our grandchild clothes, shoes and toys. “Never a dime,” says our daughter in her custody defense filings:

“Professor Mukherji argued that his wife was psychotic and a threat to his son. He offered as proof of her insanity the fact that she had left him.”

Somangshu Mukherji in Pursuit

Told by us that his missing wife and her two-year old son were safe with us in Herkimer, my son-in-law’s feet barely touched the ground as he raced to his attorney’s office to file for sole custody of the son he’d always allegedly neglected—the son of his wife and another man–and for the child’s immediate return to him in Ann Arbor. Doing the math he may have suddenly realized his love for the boy and wanted him back: child support would cost him over $1,000 a month.
After a long court battle in Ann Arbor, Somangshu was awarded sole custody. (He had a lawyer, our daughter didn’t. Ann Arbor Legal Aid, supported by U. Mich Law School, wouldn’t represent her.) Professor Mukherji argued that his wife was psychotic and a threat to his son. He offered as proof of her insanity the fact that she had left him.

Somangshu Schmoozes the Sheriff

Somangshu apparently established a cordial relationship with Herkimer County Sheriff’s personnel during his 4/11/19 trip, likely through Herkimer Undersheriff Scott Scherer. His Michigan court approved visitation of that date seemed a transparent attempt to nab our grandson on the cheap. He probably convinced the sheriff’s staff that his “son” was in grave danger from the psychotic mother, loony grandmother and pedophile grandfather. (From his slanderous Child Protection reports, since dismissed.) The day before the kidnapping, Somangshu won sole custody of Avram in an Ann Arbor court. Victorious at last, he immediately flew to Herkimer to take possession.

Michigan court order in hand, Somangshu was but one step from having a lawful custody order, one issued by a New York court, which the Herkimer county sheriff could legally enforce. He needed only to register his Michigan order with the Herkimer Family Court, which could, after a hearing for all parties, issue a New York order mandating the return of the child to Michigan. Of course, it would have cost Somangshu more money. Instead, Herkimer County obligingly skipped past the law and sent its deputies right over to take Avram from his nap.

Preventing A Herkimer Kidnapping: “Get A Warrant”

I suspect the Herkimer Family Court and the Herkimer County Sheriff get away with this all the time, possibly by saying that the parent voluntarily consented to accept service of the out-of-state custody.order. As the video shows, our daughter did not. The Herkimer sheriff’s officers presented her with the Michigan court order, which without a New York order had all the validity of a Post-It note. I contested their authority and cited the UCCJEA and applicable New York law. They didn’t care. Told me to “get a lawyer.” [video-2:41] This extrajudicial kidnapping also spared Professor Mukherji the bother and expense of obtaining a legal New York custody order.

New York – Reporting Judicial Misconduct

New York State Commission on Judicial ConductCorning Tower, Suite 2301Empire State PlazaAlbany, NY 12223 If you videoed the incident, as we did in A Herkimer Kidnapping, either upload it to the agencies or send it in with your complaint on a thumb-drive. Publish it on social media. It’s New York. It’s your right. Use it or lose it.

Governments certainly haven’t gotten very far in solving worldwide climatic devastation. Perhaps over 2,000 billionaires worldwide can save earth by financing an immediate solution. A space mission parking a huge solar shade to reduce the solar radiation is probably achievable in a very short period of time and at a very low cost. Let’s do what it takes to live!

Launching stuff into space is pretty expensive, but some materials like aerogels weigh next to nothing.

Aerogels might weigh about 0.1 pounds per cubic foot. Slicing the material into 5mm thick sheets yields about 300 sf per 1/10 pound or 3000 sf per pound. One thousand pounds of aerogel can cover 3 million square feet, so 10,000 pounds will cover about 1 square mile. To cover the 600 square miles proposed by Lowell Wood of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we might require 6 million pounds of material. At $10,000 per pound, the cost could add up to 6 trillion dollars and require 6,000 billionaires and corporations to contribute 1 billion dollars each.

We can reach the space parking point in just one or two days!

How long will it take to travel to the L1 parking point in space? L1 is about 1 million miles from earth. It will take two days or even less to get there.

We have the technology and the money to save Earth right now!

The longer we wait, the smaller our chance of survival. Rich people and corporations can save the earth by funding this practical and affordable geoengineering solution. The rest of us can do what it takes to live when we organize ourselves on a community basis by providing the necessary resources and actions for maintaining civilization.

Somangshu Mukherji’s Raid was cunningly planned and brazenly executed. It could have succeeded but for the kindly old grandfather standing in the doorway. And the Herkimer Police.

Above is my sneering son-in-law, Professor Somangshu Mukherji of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, lying derisively as he tries to make off with our two-year-old grandson under the guise of a court approved visitation. (Video below.)

Court Judges Abusive Spouse Better Parent Than Loving Mom In January, after years of forced isolation, neglect and abuse by Somangshu, our daughter and our grandson Avram escaped to our home in Herkimer New York. Somangshu was soon in pursuit. He had joint physical custody of the child at the time of his visit. Over our daughter’s strenuous objections, the Ann Arbor Family Court granted Somangshu an unsupervised visit. Ann Arbor Michigan’s a university town. Its courts give even the nuttiest professor great deference. It opened the way for Somangshu to snatch grandson Avram and take him back to Michigan with no legal consequences and no additional legal fees. Most importantly, he’d avoid paying child support of $1,000 a month for Avram. Getting the kid into that waiting taxi and heading for the airport would be Somangshu’s Mission Accomplished.

Timeline of Somangshu Mukherji’s Raid
0:01 – 0:30 Green Card Dad Somangshu Mukherji [SM] arrives via cab at our home from the airport. Storms the house. I open the door.
0:31 – 0:55 SM “Give me my son.” Avram’s his son on paper only, a Green Card son. His wife believes he signed the birth certificate to enhance his immigration status.
0:56 SM “I’m calling the police.” I remind him that he doesn’t have a lawful NY visitation order.
1:03 – 1:22 I advise SM that he is trespassing.
1:22 – 1:56 SM Refuses to let me step out onto my porch. I do anyway. SM again demands “my son.” I order him from our property. He refuses to leave. Happily, he’d rather be outed lying on camera than do anything I ask.

Litany of Lies Begins
2:06 – 2:20 SM, still refusing to leave, calls Herkimer Police: “This is about a custody order I’m here to fulfill.” He has a Michigan court visitation order. Had he a custody order, he would have no authority to fulfill it: Somangshu Mukherji is a foreign national and a Michigan resident.
2:22- 2:58 SM complains to Herkimer Police that I am threatening him, and violating his unenforceable Michigan court order, which he now says is a visitation order.
2:59 SM complains to police that I am “harassing [him] openly.” 3:04 – 4:20 SM tells Herkimer police that I am “violating a standing custody order.” (He does not have a custody order from anywhere). Miscellaneous verbal abuse from SM.
3:55 – 4:21 BRIEF MOMENT OF TRUTH: SM gives police his name and cellphone number (908-705-5616).
4:24 SM falsely states that his taxi driver is a witness to my “harassing” him. The taxi is out of sight around the corner, the driver in the cab. (My cameras are my witnesses.)
4:30 SM tells Herkimer Police that he’s spoken with Herkimer County Undersheriff Scott Scherer. 05:01 SM at last leaves our property to await the police. (Note: no taxi in sight.)

Herkimer Police Arrive 5:04 – 5:44 Herkimer Police arrive. (Officers Carbone and Holt.) SM meets them. I follow and point out that his court order is a visitation order, not a custody order, and not lawful in New York unless registered with a New York court, which expense SM has avoided.
06:00 – 06:25 I repeat same to Herkimer officers when they interview me. I note that SM was trespassing and refused to leave when ordered. They send him on his way.

Somangshu Mukherji’s Retreat

06:27 – 06:57 SM leaves the area afoot. (Later spotted around the corner, presumably awaiting a cab to airport.)
06:58 – 08:27 SM has complained to police that he fears his “son” is being abused by his pedophile grandfather, crazy grandmother and neglected by his crazy mother. (It’s in their report.) They’re obligated to follow up. Which they do and depart.

It’s the same toxic twaddle SM previously filed with New York Child Protection Services. They closed the matter as “unfounded.”
08:28 – End Before leaving the area, SM has friendly chat with the Barton Gang’s Joyce Barton, who delightedly spreads tales of our troubles to the neighbors. SM in his custody filings has already cited the Bartons’ criminal activities shown in our videos as evidence of how dangerous the neighborhood is for our grandchild.

Abusive and Controlling BehaviorI’ve known Somangshu Mukherji for 16 years. He’s gone from the seemingly nice kid we saved from deportation when he was at Harvard (allegedly “academic dishonesty”) to a scourge of God on our family. Our daughter, his wife, is terrified of him. Obviously he lies a lot. He may even believe what he’s saying because he’s saying it. Classic behavior of a malignant narcissist. As you can see, Somangshu’s already established a working relationship with the Herkimer County Sheriff’s Department, which later aided him in the illegal taking of our grandchild. On this day Herkimer Police sent him packing. Somangshu Mukherji’s Raid is an chilling example of how easily a biased judge can fuel a disastrous result and ruin a child’s life. Here’s Avram with his first-ever toys. We bought them for him when he arrived in Herkimer. Somangshu, our daughter told the court, never once bought his beloved “son” clothes, shoes or toys. “Never a dime,” she said.

2,1,19 Our grandson Avram at our home in Herkimer, NY, with his first toys ever. This is shortly after he and his mother’s at last escaped Avram’s abusive and neglectful Green Card dad.